Lullaby Wars
by Kuroneko19
Summary: One year following the summer of AI Love Machine, OZ is better than ever. But not everything is as it seems. Realities mix as King Kazma joins forces with an enigmatic OZ avatar. Romance, intrigue, mystery, & Internet mayhem - koi koi!
1. Rising Stars of OZ

_**Author's Note:**__ Konnichiwa! I am Kuroneko, but you can call me K-chan. ^_^ I've recently been introduced to __**Summer Wars**__ and absolutely love it! This little ficcie of mine takes place one year after the film, and deals primarily with Kazuma and his avatar, King Kazma, along with an OC and her avatar. I do my best to keep everyone as in-character as possible, so if anything stands out please let me know._

_Let me know what you think! All questions, comments, constructive criticism, and/or suggestions are welcome. Thank you so much for reading!_

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>I do not own anything from _Summer Wars_. I just like to write for fun. ^_^

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><p><em><strong>Lullaby Wars<br>**_By Kuroneko

**Chapter 1: Rising Stars of OZ**

All round the virtual martial arts coliseum, the screaming and cheering could be heard by anyone logged on in the wee hours of the morning. Millions of avatars packed the seats, crowding one another to get a better look at the victor who stood silently in the center of the game field as the challenger was briskly hauled away from blaring electronic lights.

Welcome to OZ, the online community where virtual reality becomes reality; the world where anything can happen with the click of the button. One year later, this Internet realm had expanded and flourished, adding more stores, users, and utilities than ever before. Every day, new user accounts sprang up: cell phones logging in, student registering their laptops – it could easily be said that OZ was rapidly becoming the online equivalent of Earth.

It was hard to believe that it was only last year that OZ had nearly met its downfall.

As King Kazma stood at the center of OZ's #5 Coliseum, he couldn't help but wonder how many people even thought about that incident anymore. With all these new users and competitors, he very much doubted it; now that the world – cyber and physical – had been spared, life had gone on as if nothing had happened. Those not directly involved with the downfall of the AI known as Love Machine would understandably begin to forget, even those whose accounts had been hijacked. And with all new security settings and virtual entertainment OZ now offered, who could blame them?

But King Kazma and his real world identity… they remembered.

The computer announcer at last revealed the final scores of the competition; again, the white rabbit fighter came out on the top. As the crowd of avatars screamed with praise and supposedly undying devotion, King Kazma gave a curt nod before heading back towards the cyber locker rooms, the illusionary obstacles dissipating as he moved along.

His sneakers made virtual tapping noises as he walked along the cybernetic hall. It was the same every time he came here: receive a challenge, accept the challenge, meet his opponent at the designated coliseum, kick the contestant's rear, and return the undefeated champion.

Both avatar and computer operator sighed; King Kazma certainly lived up to his title, but the monotony was beginning to become irksome at best.

It wasn't that there weren't any worthy opponents – just the opposite, actually. There were a great many users on OZ that provided a challenge. One or two had come close to besting the defending champ, but they never quite made it.

No, the problem wasn't so much the opposition, nor was it the game – actually, he didn't know _what_ it was, Kazuma Ikezawa realized as his watched his avatar saunter into the OZ coliseum locker room and sink onto the nearest bench. Maybe it was because this summer would mark the first anniversary of the battle against Love Machine and Granny's death; maybe it was because in another month he'd be fifteen and when school resumed he'd be finishing his last year of junior high. It could have just been the fact that he was up and battling on OZ when he ough to have been asleep.

Maybe it was all of it, or maybe it was none of it; either way, both the martial arts king of OZ and the fourteen-year-old gamer were disconcerted.

A brightly lit screen appeared in front of King Kazma's face, the little chibi version of himself chirping that he had new incoming messages. The fighter rolled his eyes. This was one of OZ's best-loved inventions, supposedly guaranteed to transfer messages at the quickest speed while the user was online.

One half-gloved hand waved in front of the floating screen carelessly in consent, allowing for the streaming influx of messages to bombard him.

That same hand slapped onto his forehead. The white rabbit peered past overhanging blond bangs and groaned – they were from all of his fans again, cheering in all sorts of languages and trying to get him to respond.

"Gr8 job, King Kazma!"

"All Hail da King!"

"¡King Kazma - el defensor verdadero de OZ!"

"Ausgezeichnete arbeit!"

Message after message, the praises continued. It looked like he was going to have to delete everything stored in his inbox en masse again. The responses were welcome and wonderful, but they were repetitive.

Another round of screams and applause erupted from the stadium of King Kazma waved aside his screen. His ears perked up just in time to catch the announcer's voice:

"EVENING ROUND 937: NIGHT-FIGHTER MATCH-UP 90!" He cringed at the heightened screams. "DEFENDING CHAMPION **FENGHUANG LEI **VS. CHALLENGER** AKANE**!"

A new screen blipped in front of the king rabbit's face, revealing the information on the two fighters – one of OZ's latest additions to the Martial Arts Competition. On the left panel was Fenghuang Lei. Kazuma knew this player: some seventeen-year-old hailing from somewhere in South Central China, according to the minimal personal information provided – something the gamers provided of their own initiative. Fenghuang Lei ranked about seventh in the top ten fighters of OZ. King Kazma had been pitted against him before: he was one of the more difficult opponents.

Red eyes slid over to the information concerning the challenger: Akane. Both avatar and human raised an eyebrow.

Akane was a _girl._

Kazuma blinked several times to make sure he wasn't reading his computer screen incorrectly. OZ's martial arts challenges seldom ever attracted female competitors – the one's who'd tried either gave up after several defeats; the more determined ones scraped their way to make decent rankings and were among the fiercest competitors. OZ's Martial Arts Championship wasn't for beginners.

But a beginner this Akane wasn't, he realized as he skimmed through her battle history. It wasn't the longest chronology he'd seen by a long-shot, but he had to admit that it was fairly impressive. And considering she was going up against one of OZ's envied Top Ten, he couldn't help but wonder how she'd fare. Compared to his own battle record and Fenghuang Lei's, she was facing a losing battle.

There was an option for the competitors to watch each other fight while still in the locker rooms – another free-floating screen in the corner provided excellent viewpoints and allowed a person to better view the match. It worked basically the same way real-life televised fights were broadcasted.

Kazuma looked over at the clock display in the locker room, his avatar doing the same. It was two-thirty-seven in the morning, and he still couldn't sleep. He wasn't slated for any more battles in the competition, and he was fairly certain that none of his other usual competitors would be up at this hour. And it had been a while since he'd last seen Fenghuang Lei fight.

It might not have been worth his while, but Kazuma wanted to see how this battle would play out. Even if it did end up the way he was sure it would, watching one of the rare times a girl offered a challenge sound interesting, especially if she didn't turn out to be a pushover.

What did he have to lose?

King Kazma sat down on the bench nearest to the corner screen and watched as the myriad of avatars jostled about in the stadium seats while trying to get a good look at the competitors as they entered the arena.

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><p><strong><em>Translations:<em>**

"¡King Kazma - el defensor verdadero de OZ!" – Spanish; "King Kazma – the true defender of OZ!"

"Ausgezeichnete arbeit!" – German; "Excellent work!"


	2. Bagua Zhang Fighter

_**Author's Note:**__ Hello again! Here's chapter two! ^_^ _

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Bagua Zhang Fighter<strong>

A new round of cheers and applause threatened to shatter the cyber coliseum as the first contestant stepped forward from one of the many hallways emerging from the perimeter. As King Kazma watched from his place in the locker room, the digital screen before him zoomed in, revealing the figure approaching the center of the ring to be Fenghuang Lei.

Each person had a preference when it came to their avatars: for Kazuma, his champion fighter was cool yet relatively simple and conveyed a sense of strength and self-assertiveness. The only extravagant feature in King Kazma's ensemble was the gold belt he wore with OZ's symbol on the buckle. This was the championship belt he'd regained after defeating Love Machine. Fenghuang Lei was a different story: one of the more embellished of avatars in the Championship, he wore clothing reminiscent of ancient Chinese imperial robes, black fur lining the gold and silk material; on his chest blazed the emblem of his namesake, a new take on the ancient Chinese rendition of the phoenix heralding over a blazing lotus flower. Black satin pants covered his long legs, ending with white socks and black slippers. He wore no hat, but kept his shiny black hair pulled into a short braid, keen and slick; his eyes were a strange and shimmery green.

Powerful, masterful, strong – all these came to mind when Fenghuang Lei made an appearance before a fight. Even Kazuma had to admit that the avatar had a commanding presence.

But if there was one thing he didn't like, it was that Fenghuang Lei tended to be a little _too_ confident before going into battle. Overconfidence was never a good thing.

The rabbit avatar winced as the crowd came into another uproar as Fenghuang Lei waved regally to his more obvious admirers. The seventh-ranking fighter was in rare form this evening. He looked like he was having a really good day – or rather, evening.

Kazuma made a mental note to take a look at the fighting records before he went up against Fenghuang Lei again.

"CHAMPION AND SEVENTH-RANKING FIGHTER IN THE OZ BATTLE LOGS: **FENGHUANG LEI**!"

More cheers. Kazuma wondered if it was possible for an avatar to get a headache: King Kazma was rubbing his temples.

The white-furred fighter looked up at the screen again as the cheers died down. The image zoomed in on the other side of the arena, revealing –

"CHALLENGER AND FIRST-TIME PLAYER IN THE OZ MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPIONSHIP: **AKANE**!"

King Kazma's head snapped up as the screen adjusted and focus. He let out a low whistle at the same time as Kazuma.

The avatar that came forth from the shadows of the hallway wasn't quite what either had expected. Ordinarily, female challengers appeared as being tough, going mostly for either militaristic attire or even going so far as appearing as ninjas. They also tended to be a bit on the tall side.

Akane was different: she was on the petite side, certainly reaching no higher than the king's own chin. Her skin was a light cinnamon color, her own surprisingly rabbit-like nose a darker shade, and her hair was short and dark red, cut in a somewhat long and angled bob that extended to her chin; the tip ends were jaggedly colored violet, the bangs included. A long and thin braid fell across one shoulder. From under the sheets of dead straight hair, two ears poked out, long and pointed, the same cinnamon shade as the rest of what little skin showed save for the ends – like the tips of her hair and bangs, they were violet as well.

Her appearance was almost reminiscent of some kind of faerie adventurer or even pirate à la the cyber world: the long sailor blue duster hung over her small frame nicely and black pants were tucked into a pair of brown boots that stopped just under her knees. From what he could tell, she was wearing an ice blue tank beneath the coat, and a silvery belt sat an angle on her hips.

All in all it looked very… _natural_ in comparison to her opponent. Comfortable even, though a bit on the sporty side.

Again, the champion fighter was rather impressed by what he saw.

A wide screen appeared in-between the two, who'd stepped up to the exact center of the arena.

"CHALLENGER **AKANE**, PLEASE SELECT BATTLE MODE."

Kazma's own screen zoomed in on the girl avatar's face, revealing her strangely relaxed features.

"Timed Challenge Mode," she commanded, her voice surprisingly soft and gentle. The fighter's eyes widened slightly – just what was this girl _doing_, challenging someone from OZ's Top Ten in a _timed_ match?

"TIMED CHALLENGE MODE SELECTED," the computer announcer reiterated. "CHAMPION **FENGHUANG LEI**, PLEASE SELECT TIME LIMIT."

"Five minutes," came the response, a smile of blindingly white teeth aimed in the challenger's direction.

The rabbit king's eyes narrowed involuntarily at the sound of seventeen-year-old's tone. Fenghuang Lei was one hundred percent positive that he would win.

In other words, he was in the mood to virtually mutilate his opponent. And when he had _that_ attitude about him, it made him even harder to defeat.

"TIME CHALLENGE MODE ENGAGED. YOU HAVE** FIVE MINUTES** TO INCAPACITATE YOUR OPPONENT. THE PLAYER WHO IS LEFT STANDING AFTER FIVE SECONDS OF THE OPPONENT'S IMMOBILITY IS DECLARED THE WINNER. THE GAME WILL BEGIN IN APPROXIMATELY **THIRTY SECONDS**. PLAYERS, PLEASE POSITION YOURSELVES IN THE DESIGNATED AREAS."

The opponents slowly backed away, eyes trained on one another, never blinking. A tense silence slowly began to fall over the arena.

"Are you sure you should be fighting in that coat, Miss Akane?" the Chinese figures in the speech bubble quickly converted into Japanese, causing Kazuma to narrow his eyes. He'd forgotten that Fenghuang Lei saw anyone who challenged him as an enemy, even if they were one of his friends. He wouldn't be nice to this girl if he could help it.

Kazuma almost missed the rapid response coming from Akane. Just before Japanese translated into Chinese, he caught the answer: "I could ask the same of you; at least mine isn't quite so nice. Aren't you afraid it'll get ruined?"

The fourteen-year-old and his avatar both snorted with silent laughter as a definite look of fury passed over Fenghuang Lei's virtual face. Cyber world or not, whoever held Akane's account certainly had guts.

"FIFTEEN SECONDS UNTIL BATTLE COMMENCEMENT."

The coliseum went eerily quiet, and all along the perimeter the avatars leaned forward as the clock counted down. King Kazma himself was waiting impatiently, hands gripping the edge of the bench as his eyes darted from the clock to the competitors in an intense triangle.

"FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO… ONE… LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

A cacophony of shrieks and cheers erupted all round as Fenghuang Lei charged, King Kazma glued to the screen as he watched for Akane's reaction. To his astonishment, she didn't move immediately, but instead held her ground. He caught a flicker in her amethyst eyes mere seconds before Fenghuang Lei made his first strike –

And missed! Kazuma and most likely the other countless thousands of watching OZ account holders gasped as Fenghuang Lei's eyes widened and looked about in surprise just before a brown-booted foot slammed into his skull from behind, forcing him to pitch forward.

The Chinese avatar did a quick somersault and spun around on his knees, finding Akane crouched in a defensive position, eyes narrowed and watching him intently.

'_Wow… she's good,'_ Kazuma thought to himself, his own eyes wide at the spectacle. It was really hard to land a blow on Fenghuang Lei – getting him from behind was practically impossible!

All around the stadium seats, conversation balloons popped up ad infinitum. Cries of "Did you see that?" and "OMG!" flew everywhere in a hundred different languages along with various other exclamations of astonishment.

But her small victory may very well have been short-lived, judging by the glare Fenghuang Lei was giving his opponent. That look on its own was enough to make the champion fighter of OZ's martial arts competitions to worry: Fenghuang Lei was adept at using bagua zhang, one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school of training.

According to his grandfather and sensei, Mansuke Jinnouchi, the martial arts in China were primarily divided into two major groups: Shaolin, which Kazuma learned from his sensei and King Kazma put into practice; and Wudang. Kazuma himself knew little of techniques used in the Wudang style of martial arts, but Mansuke had filled him in a little. After King Kazma's first battle against Fenghuang Lei, he'd learned that the seventh-place fighter's specialty, bagua zhang, was particularly difficult to challenge. It was considered one of the internal arts, being that it could be used to strengthen one from within and not just on the outside. It employed a circular walking pattern around an opponent, making it difficult for said opponent to maintain defense while looking for an opening.

King Kazma looked over to the clock ticking away in the top left-hand corner of the screen; a full minute had passed. If Fenghuang Lei was as mad as the rabbit king was sure he was, Akane wouldn't last the full five minutes.

Fenghuang Lei charged again, and this time Akane chose to block it, sending one arm up in his fist's path and sending her free hand into his abdomen, palm tilted slightly upward. With an "_oomph!_" Fenghuang Lei skidded backwards, but managed to keep on his feet. He looked up, expecting his opponent to attack. Instead, she continued to keep a defensive stance, motioning for him to come at her again.

Inside the OZ coliseum locker room, King Kazma watched the match intently. It was clear that Akane wasn't about ready to act on the offensive – yet another thing that surprised him greatly. Her actions were rather similar to his own: observing the opponent before making a strike. It was a tactical approach to a fight, something his sensei taught him early on.

Fenghuang Lei made for another attack, but it wasn't like his previous attempts. Kazuma let out an unintentional gasp as the seventh-ranked fighter feinted a strike with his right hand, causing Akane put up a defending arm.

"He's gonna strike to the left," he hissed at his computer screen, careful to keep his voice low. "Block it! _Block it!_"

One panicked look went across the faerie-like avatar's face just before she twisted and caught Fenghuang Lei's incoming fist in the folds of her duster. Using it as a distraction, she brought her elbow down in-between his shoulder blades, causing him to fall.

Akane took a leap backwards, but wound up nearly losing her balance. As Kazuma watched, her coat slid off her shoulders and down her arms, falling atop of her opponent as she did a quick somersault to get away. The floating screen in the locker room zoomed in, showing that Fenghuang Lei had tried to yank her down by the corner of her coat.

Kazuma's mouth hung open, his eyes blinking incredulously. It was considered bad sportsmanship to try and incapacitate one's opponent by grabbing at their clothing. Fenghuang Lei had to have been really desperate to try to break one of the official rules like that.

"Well, it looks like you were right: maybe it _wasn't_ a good idea to be fighting in a coat after all," Akane chirped happily, a smug a grin over her sprite-like face. "I'd like to have it back before the match is up, though. It doesn't go with your color scheme."

"Nice trick," Fenghuang Lei snarled. He flung her jacket aside, much to the girl's annoyance.

"That wasn't very nice," she said pointedly. The only response she received was a loud grunt. "Well, that was rude."

"Let's finish this."

Whoever was expecting Fenghuang Lei to make the first move again was vastly surprised: no sooner did the silk-clad warrior speak, Akane charged towards him, sending a fist into his jaw. Shaking off the shock of being hit, Fenghuang Lei quickly launched into the offensive, dealing blow after blow as Akane tried to fend him off.

It here that King Kazma began to realize just how formidable bagua zhang truly was: Fenghuang Lei moved about in a circular pattern, keeping Akane too busy defending herself to deliver a proper hit. Even as he watched, the champion fighter found it difficult to find an opening as the Chinese fighter continued his onslaught. His hands became a blur as the girl continued to block each attack until at last –

The loud "_oomph!_" was heard all round the stadium as Fenghuang Lei kneed her in the stomach, followed by a groan as he brought his fists down between her shoulder blades, sending her to the ground in a horrifyingly silent bundle.

Screams and shouts hit the ultimate high as Fenghuang Lei stood over his opponent. Just over the duo, OZ's time clock appeared, revealing only one minute and thirty seconds remaining. The voiceover began to count down.

"FIVE… FOUR…"

Fenghuang Lei smiled insanely. Both Kazuma and his avatar leaned forward, eyes latched onto the prone form huddled at the fighter's feet.

And then…

"THREE… TWO…"

Fenghuang Lei let out a shout of pain and surprise, and grabbed at his thigh. Before anyone else knew what happened, Akane spun around and delivered another roundhouse kick, this time right in the fighter's jaw.

"Whoa…" Kazuma breathed, letting loose the breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Fenghuang Lei shook off the blow and didn't waste time. Yelling out in fury, he attacked again, and soon it all became a blur of crashing fists, kicks, and palm strikes. Somewhere in amidst the screaming spectators and fierce battling, the announcement system had begun to count down from the thirty second mark.

Screams, cheers, calls of encouragement… King Kazma leaned forward, gripping the edge of the bench as if his very life depended on it. Akane blocked and dodged, threw in several well-aimed punches and palm strikes, and received numerous amounts of the same in return.

"The center of the chest!" he hissed at the computer screen. "Aim for the center of the chest! He's weak there!"

Akane made a second attempt at delivering another roundhouse, only to have Fenghuang Lei block and send a palm strike to her rib cage. Instead of falling back, she did a hasty back flip and spun around, delivering another kick to his thigh.

Over head, the clock signaled the final fifteen seconds.

"C'mon…. c'mon… c'mon!" Kazuma's voice rose with every word. "C'mon, you can beat him! You can –"

His enthusiastic outburst was suddenly cut short by the loud wailing of his baby sister. With a silent curse, Kazuma closed out from his OZ page, his final look at King Kazma revealing that he, too, had apparently been yelling at his screen. He quickly shut down his computer, and waited impatiently as the laptop went about its usual data-saving processes.

A loud yawn caused the fourteen-year-old to seize up. If his mother found him on his computer at this time of the early morning hours, she'd be more than just upset. While his parents were tolerant of his gaming habits and habitual presence in OZ, Kazuma still had a set of rules to obey. One of them was allowing OZ to prevent him from getting adequate sleep. Kazuma always kept his laptop with him with this understanding, but there were a great many sleepless nights that his parents weren't totally aware of.

The moment the lights on the laptop went out, Kazuma snapped the screen shut and placed the computer back on his nightstand before diving under the covers of his bed and turning away from the door. He fought to control his breathing as he heard his mother's footsteps coming near.

A thin streak of light poured into the room as Kazuma's bedroom door swung open gently.

"Kazuma?" Kiyomi Ikezawa's voice whispered gently into the darkened room. She looked over to her son's covered form on the bed, and watched the gentle rise and fall of his breathing.

Thinking he was asleep, she smiled to herself before closing the door.

Kazuma blinked in the darkness. He could hear his mother calling out to his baby sister, hurrying down the hall to abate the infant's crying. Unlike most babies, Kazuma's barely-one-year-old sibling didn't tend to cause nightly disruptions. But, when she _did_…

With a sigh, he threw the bed sheets off to the side and sat up. With the adrenaline still pumping through his veins from watching that battle, sleep wasn't likely to come easily. Rather than lay back and stare at the ceiling, he decided to help his mother calm the baby down. His father was on another business trip and wouldn't be back for another few weeks, leaving the fourteen-year-old to help his mother as much as possible. Little Hikari liked her older brother's voice, so maybe it would help to calm her down faster. It was the least he could do for waking her up in the first place.

Before slipping out of his room and into the hall, Kazuma cast a glance back over to his laptop.

More than anything, he wanted to know the outcome of that fight.

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><p><em><strong>AN: **__Hehehe… I won't lie to you guys, I know absolutely nothing about fighting. It took a lot of reading up on Chinese martial arts techniques for me to be able to come up with a decent fighting scenario. I looked up information on Shaolin martial arts, which is what Mansuke and Kazuma practice. That led me to reading about Wudang, which is the other form of Chinese martial arts. I came across bagua zhang in my reading and found it to be really interesting. I watched a few clips of the form in-practice, and decided to apply it to Fenghuang Lei. Hopefully I described it well enough. Please let me know if I messed up in my descriptions. Thank you so much! _

_Until the next chapter!_


	3. Family Life

**Chapter 3: Family Life**

Sunlight infiltrated from between the parting of the curtains, hitting the fourteen-year-old directly in the face. Kazuma mumbled incoherently and pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to block out the unwelcome morning rays.

"Kazuma, honey, it's time to get up!" his mother's voice called from the kitchen. "Hurry or you'll miss breakfast!"

Despite his earnest wishing to return to a peaceful slumber, Kazuma's stomach rumbled rebelliously, sending up mental images of fried eggs and toast. With a loud groan, he threw the covers off himself and sat up, looking around blearily.

The first thing that registered in his sleep-addled brain was that his room was a mess again. His clothes were flung over his desk chair, and papers from the last week of school were still scattered about. Rubbing his face to wake himself up, he made a mental note to reorganize things and put his summer homework up before he and his mother left for Ueda.

Then his gaze fell upon his laptop.

Memory surged unexpectedly, waking the fourteen-year-old up instantly. He'd almost forgotten that battle Fenghuang Lei had with that avatar called Akane.

More than anything, he wished he could have seen who'd dealt the winning blow…

"Kazuma!"

"Coming, Mom!" he called back, jumping out of bed. He'd have to check the OZ battle logs after breakfast.

**…**

"I know you won't like this, but I need you to stay off the computer for most of today," Kiyomi said as she made an attempt to feed Hikari.

Kazuma raised an eyebrow over his cereal. "How come?"

A small bit of baby food fell onto the tray of Hikari's highchair with a _plop_. "I just got off the phone with your father before I woke you up. His trip's going to take a bit longer than he expected again, so he won't be back for another three weeks."

Kazuma rolled his eyes as his mother wiped up the small mess. His father was perpetually on business trips.

"I was talking with Aunt Mariko the other night," Kiyomi continued. "I had a feeling this might happen, so I made arrangements to go to the main house a few weeks earlier than I'd planned. I hope you don't mind, honey. I'm sorry for springing it up on you like this."

"It's okay." As far Kazuma was concerned, time away from their home in Nagoya was a godsend. He'd never admit it aloud, but after the previous summer, the home that belonged to Granny Sakae had become one of his more favorite places to visit. He was actually looking forward to seeing everyone again.

"_Plus_…" his eyes shot up at the teasing tone in his mother's voice. Kiyomi had momentarily stopped her unsuccessful attempts at feeding her daughter to give her son a smile. "Because your father's been considered for the job transfer to Ueda, Aunt Mariko and your grandfather have been looking into housing for us. Apparently they've found a few places to look at."

"Really?" the question flew out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Kiyomi giggled. "Well, I take it that means you're interested. Okay, then here's the deal: we won't be leaving until the day after tomorrow, but if you help me get a few things done today and gather up what you want to take with you, and we'll go out for dinner tonight. Sound good?"

Gone were any reserves of playing introverted. There were only a few things outside the virtual world of OZ that enticed Kazuma Ikezawa – one of them was the luxury of going out for a meal.

"You bet!"

**…**

The day flew by in frenzied blur. During the previous summer, packing for the trip had been considerably easier. While Kazuma himself had little to worry about in terms of necessities and forms of entertainment (in his mind, the laptop and a pair of headphones were all he'd ever need), his mother was another story.

The problem was actually Hikari. During Kiyomi's pregnancy, the worst she'd prepared for was early labor, and had packed in the event something happened while they were in Ueda. But now that the baby girl was with them, there was the matter of diapers, baby food, changes of clothing, and everything else that went with it. Kazuma loved his sister to bits, of that there was no doubt, but he had to admit that she was an awful lot of work to keep up with.

And all the while, Hikari watched from her perch in the carrier strapped to Kiyomi's back, blowing bubbles and squealing as she watched her older brother packing things up into bags.

Kiyomi held true to her word, and the three headed out that evening to a small restaurant in their neighborhood. It was a small family-run business like so many in urban Japan, but the best part was that this particular restaurant didn't just serve ramen and udon like so many of the others. In addition to standard Japanese food, they served foreign favorites like pizza, hamburgers, and fries. The owner's middle son, a wiry older teen named Akihiko, loved to try new things – if there was something popular in some other country, he wanted to replicate it.

As of yet, his only great failure was last winter's attempt at escargot. Since then, Akihiko's father forbade him from ever trying French cuisine again.

They returned home just before the sun went down, Kazuma occasionally diving into the small bag of fries he had left over from the meal. Once back inside the apartment, he helped his mother in and latched the door.

"Kazuma, honey, I'm going to put Hikari to bed now," Kiyomi said softly, indicating the slumbering child she held. "In the meantime, why don't you go ahead and play on OZ for awhile? You've really earned it today."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom!" Both boy and the bag of fried retreated to the confines of his room.

Kiyomi sighed and gave her son's retreating back a small smile. She loved Kazuma to bits, but she honestly wished that he had at least _one_ person close to him outside of OZ.

**…**

Kazuma clicked the on the overhead light that shone down over his now clean room and immediately plopped onto his bed, snatching his laptop up from its place on the nightstand. At last he had a chance to catch up with the OZ battle logs and find out the outcome of that fight he'd been pulled away from.

It had been nagging at him in the back of his mind all day long. The final thirty seconds of the battle, and he had to miss it. Never before had he been so engrossed in a fight that wasn't his own; the only instances in which he even bothered to watch had been out of sheer boredom or to size up the competition.

But _this_ fight had been different.

It wasn't that the challenger had been a girl (who happened to have a rather unique avatar at that), nor was it the fact that Fenghuang Lei had been unusually violent in his attacks. It wasn't even the fact that he'd been suffering from insomnia and needed something to amuse him – it was _how_ the girl had fought.

Sleek, intelligent, flowing, and guarded. He'd never seen anything like it. Even during King Kazma's battle against Love Machine, Kazuma could never have said with unwavering conviction that it had bordered along the lines of a beautiful dance. Love Machine had gone for a kind of macho flare; King Kazma had been his usual unrelenting and sophisticated self. But Akane had given the fight a certain _style_ that he'd never seen before, nor had he ever thought possible.

As hastily typed in his password, he truly hoped that she'd won.

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><p><em><strong>AN:**__ This one was a little more transitional and food-oriented than I'd originally planned (LOL), but I wanted to give a feel for Kazuma's home life before we got more into the story. Let me know what you think – all questions, comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions are welcome! ^_^_


	4. A Chance Encounter

_**Author's Note:**__ Wow, it's been a while. O.O; Sorry I haven't been able to update in so long – I just haven't had the chance, and wound up stalling as this chapter rather confounded me._

_This chapter goes out to all my readers and reviewers who've waited for this update, as well as __**TheAnadalua**__, whose PM prompted me to continue this chapter. Thank you so much!_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: A Chance Encounter<strong>

King Kazma's avatar greeted him with a smart salute, the same as he always did. Without waiting another moment longer, Kazuma quickly entered the command to view the OZ Martial Arts Championship battle logs, fingers flying across the keys at lightning speed.

In mere seconds his request was granted, and statistics and outcomes flooded the page, very nearly nudging King Kazma out of the view. The rabbit avatar gave the floating screen a small glare before scrolling down the time logs to the night before. As the list went on, Kazuma wasn't certain how to react – according to battle logs, it looked like there were some people who were even more fanatic about the challenges than he was!

After a moment of sifting through the numerous entries of losses and wins, Kazuma finally found what he was looking for:

EVENING ROUND 937: NIGHT-FIGHTER MATCH-UP 90. CHAMPION FENGHUANG LEI VS. CHALLENGER AKANE.

He felt his breath hitch as he doubled-click the icon, and involuntarily leaned forward to find the outcome.

TIE.

"It… was a _draw_?" he let out his breath in a hefty sigh. While a part of him was sorely disappointed to find that Akane had not in fact _won_ the match, the other part was relieved that she hadn't allowed Fenghuang Lei to win. With all the dirty tricks the Chinese fighter had pulled against that faerie-like avatar, he didn't _deserve_ to win. Even when he was desperate, Kazuma _never_ resorted to cheap shots.

He snorted at the memory of Fenghuang Lei trying to pull Akane down by yanking on her coat. It was a good thing the avatar had been so flexible, or else he might have succeeded in incapacitating her.

Still, she'd tied against the seventh-ranking fighter in the OZ Championship – that was an impressive accomplishment. As far as anyone could remember, _nobody_ with Akane's neophyte ranking lasted past a minute against the high-level players. If she kept it up, he'd be facing her in a competition sooner or later.

He liked the idea of that, funnily enough. It would be interesting to see how she'd fare against King Kazma.

His inbox messaging system blipped in front of him, revealing several new messages. With a rather disgruntled sigh, he clicked the icon, leading to the long list of friend request, invites, and various other private messages left over by his fans.

There was only one that he clicked on, after scanning the multitude of subject lines in mild disinterest. The space next to the subject line had been marked with the Jinnouchi clan's flag, just under the avatar for the person who'd sent the message. The avatar itself looked to be a masked ninja squid of sorts. That interesting little guy belonged to none other than Kazuma's sensei and grandfather: Mansuke Jinnouchi.

Smiling broadly, Kazuma clicked on the message's title, which said loud and clear "READ ME!"

_Heya, kid!_ The message read. _How are things in Nagoya? Your mom called about coming over early, which excited just about everyone over here. Mariko's ecstatic about seeing her little niece and the rest of the girls are going insane over going out to buy Hikari new clothes – women!_

Kazuma snorted with laughter. Women were pretty crazy about babies and things related to "the little darlings". He could still remember the day Hikari was born: the hospital orderlies and attendant had all been ogling at the number of people crowding the waiting area connected to the delivery room. Not all of the Jinnouchi family members had shown up, but there had been enough of them to raise a good number of eyebrows. And the entire time, all the women of the family had been speculating what the baby would look like, what colors she'd look good in – Kazuma had opted to remain with his grandfather, who'd made sure to throw several witty comments before Kazuma's father came out of the delivery room with the pink bundle, giving way to squeals of delight and Kazuma and his rather shaky father receiving congratulatory thumps on the back.

_Well, anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you all again! Mariko and I (and Mansaku – can't forget about him!) found a few places for you guys to take a look at after you get settled in. Everyone's pretty sure your dad's going to get the transfer, so we're all pitching in to look for a house._

_I caught sight of your battle entry for last night against that one guy – sorry I missed it. Keep up the great work, kid! See you soon! And don't forget about your summer homework!_

Kazuma laughed softly as he exited the message and proceeded to his ritualistic en masse deletion of fan-submitted messages. Mansuke might have been seventy-one years old, but he was dynamite on OZ and reality. After all that hell Kazuma went through in school growing up, he had grown quite attached to his grandfather and loved him dearly. He couldn't wait to see the old man again.

Unwanted proclamations of unshakable devotion now cleared, Kazuma checked his friends and family list to see if anyone was on, and was rather disappointed to see that no one was logged into the system. It oughtn't to have surprised him much, given everyone's circumstances. His family's preparations for their summer gathering notwithstanding, there were other things to consider. His cousin Natsuki Shinohara and her boyfriend, that math nerd Kenji Koiso, were both currently attending cram school in preparation for their college entrance exams. Even though both had finished high school earlier in the year, they'd chosen to withhold going into college in favor of extra studying. Despite the bespectacled teen's vehement protests to the contrary, Takashi Sakuma had followed them in the effort while also maintaining his status as an OZ moderator alongside Kenji. The two had received promotions following the Love Machine incident, which meant not only an increase in pay but an increase in the amount of time they spent being consumed in their work. Their jobs atop of intense studying left minimal time for extracurricular activities. Kazuma probably wouldn't be hearing from any of them until after he got to Ueda, and even then it would probably be a quick PM before hitting the books again. Sakuma hardly sent anything past emoticons from his cell phone these days, and Kenji just barely slipped him messages in-between running system checks.

The fourteen-year-old sighed. It would be another week or two before he would see Natsuki and Kenji again, and it was a bit irritating to think on. Kazuma understood perfectly well that this was what happened when a person went on the college track and held a job, but it still left him feeling a bit lonely. He hardly got along with anyone at his school, and generally ignored his classmates as a result. As King Kazma he was online gamer's dream, but in reality he was a social klutz; Kenji and Sakuma were the only friends he had outside the Jinnouchi family.

Shrugging aside the issue of his perpetual lack of a social life outside the virtual world, Kazuma exited the personal messaging system and pulled up the Games and Challenges index. After competing in the Championship the previous evening, he opted this time for the usual endurance games he tended to stick to. It pleased him to see that his Exposition Games – far and wide the best-loved timed challenge game for OZ gamers, according to reviews – was still at the top of the list. After uploading several new challenge levels to create a 150 Match Survival Challenge, hits and views had skyrocketed.

Now that he thought about it, Kazuma hadn't given his Survival Challenge a run-through in a while. Deciding now was as good a time as any, he clicked on the game's icon and watched as the world surrounding King Kazma melded out of focus before shifting and regaining the bright coloration of OZ.

**…**

The environment around the rabbit king waned a bit before sharpening into focus, his red eyes adjusting the change in scenery. The entrance into the Exposition Games had hardly changed a bit since his updating and additions. The gates were still the same illuminated digital screen, the brightly lighted display heralding the title of the game space like one of those retro arcades he'd seen in Shibuya, Tokyo. King Kazma strolled casually through the _torii_-style gateway, feeling rather nostalgic at his surroundings.

Not a thing had truly changed here since Love Machine, and for that the champion fighter was proud. Denizens of OZ still flocked here to hone their skills, let off steam, or simply kill some time. Even as the rest of OZ's virtual gaming establishments experimented in their appearances, King Kazma stubbornly kept his the same. In time, perhaps he would do something a little different to alter the Exposition Games' outwards appearance, but for now, he was content with what he had.

The rabbit king was lost only momentarily in his thoughts before a loud yell snapped him from his reverie.

Looking in the direction of the shout, King Kazma was surprised to find a full-scale battle being waged on the 77th level of the 150 Match Survival Challenge. As the owner and administrator of the game, entitled to know all the goings-on of his gaming arena, the furred fighter waved a hand to summon what was popularly referred to as the Eye in the Sky by those of the OZ realm.

The Eye in the Sky had been released several months following Love Machine's demise, after the media hype died down and court dates disappeared into the woodwork. One of the OZ administrators' latest developments in security, it allowed proprietor's of stores, business owners, technicians for utilities, and even amateur game developers such as Kazuma the ability to home in on essentially every aspect of their OZ properties. The idea behind the Eye in the Sky was to reduce the chance of hacking, as well as ensure a safe haven for OZ account holders.

The OZ administrators had their own version of the program; a far more powerful and omnipotent form of the Eye in the Sky, which had been released to the public under the name of _the Eye of Harmony_.

Accessing into his own Eye in the Sky, King Kazma adjusted the settings of the free-floating screen to zoom in on the 77th level. Out of the virtual dust and debris being kicked up in the battle, he could make out two figures: one of them appeared to be distinctly female, while the other was a large and writhing, snake-like object. Their opponent was a currently indiscernible mecha, one of many in the Survival Challenge. The one thing about _this_ boss, however, was that Kazuma had given it the ability to target multiple opponents while holding the defensive. Many complained it was almost impossible to get past the monstrosity, but that was mostly because they lacked the patience to study their opponent before really attacking.

Judging from the pair's movements, however, King Kazma could tell that they were strategizing.

"Left flank!" one shrill female voice screeched, and the girlish figure on the screen veered off to the side, allowing the twisting serpentine form to charge, talons flashing briefly before being engulfed in virtual dust. "He's all yours, Allen!"

"Got it!" yelled another, this one belonging to what sounded like an adolescent boy around Kazuma's age. The serpentine form charged, but then snapped back abruptly before being engulfed in the smoke of the battle. "Crap! I don't got it!"

"Watch out!" cried another feminine voice, catching King Kazuma's interest immediately. Where had that third voice come from?

The screen cleared a little, the sounded of screeching metal in motion causing the rabbit king to cringe. The two figures panted heavily, but remained on guard. King Kazma watched the pair in slight bemusement, having never seen them before at any point on OZ. That was hardly surprising, given the sheer number of people with access to the social networking website, but for him to have missed an avatar dressed in grey-and-black attire sporting vivid violet hair tied into a messy ponytail and a set of chartreuse eyes seemed a bit unlikely. The dragon crouched next to her – sleek, muscular, and with an astoundingly long red mane and feral gold eyes – was equally as odd and even less likely to miss in a sea of avatars.

There was a brief silence, followed by a bone-rattling metallic _CRASH_ that shook the arena. The strange duo backed up quickly before a large metal arm fell before them.

"Timber~!" the violet-haired girl trilled with a giggle. "Talk about your perfect timing! I thought we'd be out for certain!"

"What the heck took you so long?" the dragon demanded, looking over in the direction of the fallen mecha's main body.

"Sorry, I was bit preoccupied." The third voice from before, soft and gentle, apologized. King Kazma gave a jolt – he'd heard that voice before!

The owner of the voice jumped out from the cloud of dust surrounding the downed opponent, brown boots touching lightly onto the arena's floor and the avatar kneeling gracefully upon landing.

From his place in the world of reality, Kazuma Ikezawa fought the urge to either fall off his bed or drop his laptop as the newly arrived female avatar lifted her head and grinned broadly to her comrades, long violet-tipped cinnamon-colored ears twitching slightly in response to the dust particles still drifting about lazily in the air.

It was Akane.


	5. Glitch

**Chapter 5: Glitch**

Akane stood, her sailor blue duster falling down gently against her calves. She was just as Kazuma had seen the previous evening; still with the same sporty, faerie-like air to her and radiating confidence.

'_I didn't think I'd be seeing her so soon…'_ he thought, still stunned by the avatar's appearance.

"Well, preoccupied or not, the point is that you _nailed_ this jerk!" The violet-haired avatar's remark caused King Kazma's ears to flick, pushing him out of his stunned train of thought. "And speaking of jerks, congratulations on the tie from your fight last night!"

"Yeah, nice job handling Fenghuang Lei," the dragon said with a smirk full of jagged teeth. "Too bad you didn't beat him, though."

"He holds the Seventh Ranking in the OZ Martial Arts Championship – I'm lucky I managed to tie with him at the last minute. He wasn't a particularly friendly opponent."

"No kidding," the dragon snorted. "I caught the play-by-play last night before Dad kicked me off the computer. That guy had some nerve trying to pull a dirty trick like that. I would've clobbered him!"

"Nah-ah-ah, Allen~!" The violet-haired girl patted her leviathan companion on the hide with a giggle. "_Maki _would have clobbered him; _you_ would have flattened him!"

'_Maki?'_ King Kazma raised an eyebrow. _'Who's that?'_

"And _you_, Sukima, would have turned him into a crater," Akane joked with a small smile.

The bespectacled girl gave the faerie-like avatar a rogue grin. "Sure, if I'd been there. Too bad they don't hold too many group battles out at the coliseums. It seems like I've always got something gone on during those competitions."

"Is that what happened the last time?"

"Actually, we _both_ had something going on," the dragon, now identified as Allen, admitted. "Suki and I had finals to worry about, so Dad limited the amount of time we could spend on OZ."

"Yeah, and he was trapped in the office a lot, so he wasn't able to relay any messages for us." The girl now known as Sukima sighed. "And I'm taking a couple of summer courses this year, so I don't get much of a vacation. College is fun, but the work can be a total pain."

"But you get straight A's, so it's worth the effort," Akane pointed out, earning her a deadpanned expression from the clearly older account holder.

"Just because the work is easy doesn't mean it isn't time-consuming," Sukima stated bluntly. "The only class I've ever had trouble in is Chemistry, and I'm staying as far away from _that_ subject as I possibly can."

"And in the meantime, she just up and blows the grading curve in psychology," Allen joked, earning himself a smack upside the head. In response, he contorted his serpentine features into a goofy kind of look with his large eyes crossed and his long, forked tongue sticking out. His expression was comical enough that King Kazma snorted with suppressed laughter. Kazuma had to stifle his owned amusement so as not to attract his mother's attention.

"_Anyway_ –" Sukima shot the dragon a dirty look "– now that we've got a bit of a break until I go back to school, how about we actually try to break our own record this time?"

"Heck yeah!" Allen cheered, coiling himself into an almost pretzel-shaped twist. "I wanna see what they've got horded up as the final level boss!"

"I'm curious about Level 150 myself," Akane said, grinning a little. "I say let's go for it."

"Okay, then let's –" Sukima's cheer was interrupted by the screeching sound of metal-against-metal. The trio froze, eyes widening at the sound. King Kazma's ears twitched.

"Uh… what was that?" Allen asked.

"Dunno." Sukima's chartreuse eyes narrowed and darted around. "Think the 78th Level's boss came out to play?"

"The boss for Level 78 isn't a mech," Akane said lowly, echoing the rabbit king's thoughts exactly. The fae avatar's shoulders tensed visibly. "I hope this isn't a technical glitch."

'_It had better _not_ be a glitch,'_ Kazuma thought apprehensively. Even though he was an amateur game developer, he was better protected than most when it came to his computer programs and applications. The Exhibition Games had been ranked as one of OZ's safest MOGs, second only to the OZ Martial Arts Championship and various other OZ-sponsored events that played host to significantly more virtual players than the fourteen-year-old's gaming platform.

Kazuma wasn't stupid; he knew enough about the virtual world to keep on his toes when it came to safety features. Tips from his uncle, Tasuke, helped out a lot in that respect. It paid to have a relative who specialized in electronics.

Akane and her two companions backed up and tensed defensively, eyes trained on the fallen mecha for Level 77. King Kazma's eyes narrowed as he watched the boss rise noisily.

"Is that thing supposed to still be moving?" Sukima demanded, voice slightly panicking.

"No," Akane answered, teeth gritted. "It's easily incapacitated by a sharp blow to the right side of its neck – there's a small piston you can jam that'll freeze up its functions. There's absolutely no way I missed it."

Kazuma and his avatar gawked at her words. _'How the heck did she figure that out? That wasn't an easy weakness to come up with!'_

"Crap," Allen hissed, coiling up behind the two girls. "Looks like King Kazma upped the ante on this one."

"I don't think so, Al," Sukima said, holding her left hand out to the side. Kazuma was surprised to see a bronze staff with a twisted coil at the top suddenly materialize. "This game hasn't been updated since before the last time we played."

That had been well over four or five weeks ago, Kazuma thought to himself. He frowned heavily at his computer screen. What was going on with the battle mech?

The lumbering monstrosity managed to right itself before turning yellow-lens eyes onto the three avatars, electronic mechanisms whirring loudly enough for all of them to hear. King Kazma remained unnoticed from his position with the Eye in the Sky, eyes narrowed and mind moving at a rapid pace as time seemingly froze in those surprisingly few seconds.

'_What's going on here?'_

Kazuma's answer came in the form of three wild shouts and the sound of metal crunching against what might have constituted as concrete as the mecha's right arm came slamming down to where the trio had been. Akane, Sukima, and Allen had managed to scatter barely one second before the limb came in contact with the ground, sending up sparks and virtual debris.

"Plan! Now!" Allen yelled.

"Try the usual formation and see if that works!" Akane instructed, skidding to halt to the far left of the mecha. "Sukima and I will take the offensive; Allen, you handle defense!"

"Roger that!"

The dragon coiled and then darted out like a shot, nostrils flared and teeth gritted as he charged towards the mecha. The intended target quickly threw out an arm, slamming it into the dragon's skull with a sickening _crack_ and shoving him off to the side.

Allen shook aside the sudden disorientation and coiled again, tendrils of smoke billowing out from between his teeth. His eyes flared momentarily and he charged again, this time ducking his head out of harm's way and maneuvering the rest of his body stealthily to avoid further injury. As King Kazma watched, the dragon succeeded in coiling around one of the mecha's arms and part of the upper body.

He cackled as the 77th Level's boss struggled to break free. "Got him!"

"Great!" Sukima cheered, barreling through the virtual dust that had kicked up in the scuffle. She twirled her staff furiously in her right hand, the top of it glowing pulsating amber. "Now to down this guy!"

The violet-haired avatar leapt effortlessly to close the remaining distance between her and the intended target, chartreuse eyes alight with some kind of energy the champion fighter could only attribute to the thrill of the battle. The staff arced and she looked ready to throw it as if it were a javelin.

But the unexpected happened, and the mecha regained its footing; in one swift movement, it swung the arm Allen was attached to and sent the bewildered dragon crashing into the older girl's avatar. With a yelp of astonishment, Allen accidentally loosed his hold on his opponent and was sent sprawling out onto the arena's floor, just barely missing Sukima.

Kazuma cringed, but looked on in horrified fascination. Out of the corner of his peripheral vision, he caught sight of something blue flapping in-between dust clouds. King Kazma's eyes darted in the direction of the movement, scanning intently for any further sign of the other female fighter.

His answer came quickly as Akane swept up from the billowing dust and sprinted up behind the mecha. Her jaw was set and her face determined - it was evident that she was aiming to win. Violet eyes were focused directly on the mecha's neck, just where the boss's Achilles' heel – the piston – was located.

Without warning, the girl's intended target spun around, flinging its arm at a dangerous speed. One fleeting look of panic crossed over Akane's face just before she narrowly dodged the flying appendage. She hit the ground fully, and was forced to roll over before a metal foot came crashing down where her head had just been.

King Kazma gaped at the scene in stunned horror. This wasn't supposed to be happening! Even if Kazuma didn't come around to check up on the Exhibition Games regularly, Sakuma and Kenji ran daily system checks per his request – one of the perks of having played a role in Love Machine's demise was being allowed a certain amount of leeway with OZ administrators. If there had been any glitches, Kazuma would have been alerted immediately, and the problem would have been dealt with as efficiently as possible. There was just no_ way _something would have escaped the moderators' attention!

"Leave her alone!" Allen shot out again, aiming for the mecha's legs. The arm flung out again, crashing into the dragon's skull and sending him flying once again.

"Allen!" Sukima screeched, looking after the younger avatar in evident shock. While her back was turned, the mecha took the opportunity to throw its arm out once again, slamming into the violet-haired avatar's back and sending her skidding with a shriek.

"If you want to play dirty, then pick on someone who knows how to fight back!" A brown-booted foot slammed into the back of the boss's metal skull, causing the monstrosity to pitch forward and nearly lose its balance.

Akane jumped onto the behemoth's shoulders, eyes ablaze in evident fury. One half-gloved hand quickly slammed down onto the piston on the side of the mecha's neck, fully jamming it into its body.

The mecha shuddered and froze, seeming to cease all functions. Akane sighed heavily and slumped against the prone form. Kazuma sighed as well; he'd been really worried for a second there.

"Did you get him?" Allen called out, eyes rolling around dizzily as he lifted his head up. Bits of cyber debris fell out of his mane.

Akane looked up to answer, but was interrupted by the familiar sound of screeching metal. Disbelief waved over her faerie-like features, and she suddenly found herself being ripped from the mecha's shoulders. The avatar let out a shrill yell as she flew across the arena and squeaked upon hitting against the large wall. Kazuma's eyes widened as Akane let out a low moan and slid down, leaving a full-body imprint as evidence of the impact.

She shook her head dazedly, and snapped her attention up to the behemoth lumbering towards her. She attempted to get up, but found the task to be far from easy thanks to the injuries she'd sustained.

'_Crap,'_ she couldn't help but think, and cringed against the wall as the mecha pulled its arm back for a punch.

The expected blow was never delivered – to the fighting trio's shared astonishment, a white and red blur sped in front of Akane and a fist went directly into the mecha's jaw, sending it reeling back.

Their rescuer jumped back before crouching into a fighting stance, red eyes narrowed in his opponent's direction.

"Oh, my _god_…" Sukima gasped. "It's _King Kazma_!"

"What the heck‽" Allen gawked as he watched the champion fighter deliver another blow to the mecha before it could recover, and slamming a roundhouse kick into its side. "When did _he_ get here‽"

"He's the administrator for this game setup – why _wouldn't_ he be here?" Sukima snapped, eyes glued to the fighter as he dodged an incoming blow. Akane leapt off to the side, her own eyes trained on the fighter as well.

King Kazma rounded on mecha again, each blow sending the behemoth reeling. With another blow to the jaw, he sent the boss pitching backward. Seizing the opportunity, he jumped up and grabbed at the mecha's head, twisting it around with a violent jerk. The sound of snapping cyber cables and popping bolt filled the virtual arena before he leapt aside, landing gracefully in front of his opponent.

"_That's _how you play dirty," he muttered angrily, eyes glaring. The mecha collapsed, sending waves of virtual dust and wind all over, blowing his ears back. King Kazma merely narrowed his eyes against the debris, now satisfied that the monstrosity would not be getting up again.

"Whoa…" he heard Allen breathe. A quick glance to the side revealed that the dragon avatar had slinked up closer to the battle, and was now looking over the champion's shoulder with bulging eyes.

"Just what the heck _was_ that, anyway?" Sukima asked in an awestruck voice, appearing on King Kazma's other side.

"Technical glitch," he said tersely, taking a step forward and frowning down at the fallen mech at his sneakered feet. "It must've shown up after the moderator's ran their system checks earlier. I'm going to have to report this and temporarily shut down the Exhibition Games until I can figure out what happened."

'_Damn it,'_ he internally fumed. _'How did something get by Kenji and Sakuma?'_

He turned around and gave the two an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry about this, you guys."

"Don't worry about it," Sukima said with a dismissive wave of a gloved hand and a suddenly brighter tone of voice. "If anything, _we_ should be thanking _you_ for saving our butts back there."

"Yeah, really," Allen agreed, thumping his tail against the ground for emphasis.

"He's the reigning champion in the OZ Martial Arts Championship for a reason, after all." King Kazma looked to the side. He was surprised to find Akane grinning up at him.

Kazuma's fingers hovered over the keys of his laptop in sudden hesitation. What was he supposed to say to her?

"I saw your battle with Fenghuang Lei the other night," he finally managed after a moment. "I was really impressed; he isn't the easiest person to beat."

Akane's smile went from somewhat admiring to immediately embarrassed; she shifted her gaze off of the champion and looked off to the side. "As I said before, I was just really lucky. He holds the Seventh Ranking in the OZ Top Ten. I'm barely in the 1000 range."

Allen snorted loudly, issuing little puffs of cybernetic smoke from his nostrils. "Are you kidding me? You've got enough talent to make it up to the OZ Fighting Hundred if you'd just get out there and start kicking tail!"

"You mean starting with yours?" Sukima taunted, thwacking the dragon on the head with her staff.

"Hey!"

"I'm not all _that_ great, Allen!" Akane protested.

"I thought you were pretty good," King Kazma said without thinking. Akane looked at him incredulously. He raised a hand to halt any forthcoming protests. "And the fact that you found out this level boss's weakness is pretty impressive, too. I'm surprised – not many people had that figured out."

Akane shrugged. "If you study an opponent long enough, you eventually find out its weak points. It actually took me several tries before I finally figured it out." She frowned and looked over to the mecha in question. "Well, at least I _thought_ I had it figured out."

King Kazma frowned as well, though more at Akane's crestfallen expression than the actual incident. "Like I said, I'll have it taken care of. I'll have to send out an official alert on the message boards to let everyone know that the Exhibition Games will be closed for a while." Kazuma sighed over his laptop; he hated it when nothing went right.

"I guess we'll just have to check the message boards then." Sukima let out an exasperated sigh. "Still, thanks a ton for handling that boss. We owe you one."

He waved the offer aside. "You really don't need to –"

"Actually we do," Akane interrupted. Violet eyes looked up at him sharply. "Even though you're the administrator of this game, you weren't obligated to bail us out like that. If you need anything, just feel free to ask us. I'm Akane, by the way."

"Yeah, I know," he said, feeling a bit sheepish.

Allen wrapped one claw around the fighter's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "I'm Allen and the girl with the stick –"

"Staff!" Sukima corrected.

"– whatever!" He stuck his forked tongue out at her. "She's my big sister, Sukima. We're usually online on the nights and weekends, but feel free to send us a message anytime and we'll back to you as soon as we can!"

"Definitely," the other girl agreed.

Kazuma wracked his brain for a way to respond. In truth, he disliked massive amounts of attention and tended to avoid contact with other OZ members outside of his family, Kenji, and Sakuma – he had far too many fans milling about to contend with comfortably. These three, however, were a bit different. They sounded like they sincerely wanted to repay him for assisting them, and not just because he was the top competitor in OZ's Martial Arts Championship.

And he was pretty curious about that Akane girl…

"Tell you guys what," he said after a moment's thought; "after I get the issue fixed, how about we all test the Exhibition Games out before I officially reopen it to the public?"

Allen and Sukima exchanged excited looks with one another; Akane raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Allen's face was suddenly mere inches from King Kazma's face.

"Seriously."

The dragon let out a cheer that came across more as a roar and twisted around happily. Sukima burst out laughing.

"Well if Allen and Sukima like the idea, I'm in." The white-furred fighter had to look down a bit to find a cinnamon-colored hand extended toward him, a grinning Akane just beyond it. He accepted it gladly and took her hand, effectively sealing the deal.

Yet in spite of the handshake he shared with the female fighter, Kazuma couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy as his eyes trailed back to the motionless mecha lying on the arena floor. Glitch or not, Kazuma knew in the back of his mind that nothing out of the ordinary would have escaped either Kenji's or Sakuma's attention.

The idea that something _had_ gotten past them bothered him considerably.

* * *

><p><em>*MOG – multiplayer online game<em>


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